Smoking is harmful to health by causing heart disease, emphysema and cancer. The latest study from University College London now says that every time a cigarette is smoked, it shortens the average lifespan by 20 minutes. Therefore, a pack of 20 cigarettes shortens the life of the smoker by almost 7 hours. According to gender, a cigarette shortens the life expectancy of men by 22 minutes and women by 17 minutes.
This is almost twice as high as a study conducted by researchers from the University of Bristol in 2000. If a smoker quits on January 1, they will extend their life expectancy by 50 days at the end of the year. The study was conducted using data collected since 1951 for men and 1996 for women.
In 2023, smoking cigarettes will cause 27,000 deaths in Malaysia according to the WHO report. It is estimated that 19% of the Malaysian population will smoke in 2023 and this is lower than 21.3% in 2011.